This is Donaghmoyne castle, a formidable motte and bailey complex that tells the story of Anglo-Norman ambition meeting Irish resistance in the late 12th century. The monument consists of a truncated conical mound some 12 metres high at its tallest point, topped with masonry remains and accompanied by two baileys; an inner raised platform and a larger outer enclosure stretching eastward along the ridge.

The site’s history reads like a medieval drama of conquest and retreat. Around 1190, the territory of Farney, including this remote corner of Monaghan, was granted to Peter Pipard as part of the Anglo-Norman expansion into Ulster. By 1193, a castle had been built at Domhnaigh Maighen, almost certainly the earthwork fortification we see today. The Pipards struggled to maintain their grip on this frontier outpost, and after the original castle was burnt, Ralph FitzNicholas oversaw the construction of a stone castle between 1228 and 1244, recruiting local labour to fortify what must have seemed an increasingly precarious position. Despite these efforts, the Pipards surrendered Farney back to the Crown in 1302, effectively abandoning it to the native Irish. Various attempts to re-establish control through leases to different Anglo-Norman lords throughout the 14th and 15th centuries all failed, and by 1401, even Eochaidh Mac Mahon held the lease, though pointedly without the castle itself.

Archaeological investigations since the 1990s have revealed fascinating details about life in this frontier fortress. Excavations in the outer bailey uncovered evidence of industrial activity, including vast quantities of slag and what appears to be a forge, suggesting the castle was as much a centre of production as defence. The motte itself, encased in masonry at its summit, is surrounded by a deep fosse up to 24 metres wide and an outer bank that’s most massive on the western and northern sides where the natural defences were weakest. A masonry causeway once connected the motte to the inner bailey, where traces of stone facing and possibly a gatehouse can still be detected. Today, the monument stands as a National Monument in state ownership, its imposing earthworks a testament to a turbulent period when this part of Ireland existed as a contested borderland between two worlds.